Nestle, Freehold Borough settle issue of assessmen

[admin]

newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/1223/front_page/030.html

FREEHOLD — Borough officials and representatives of Nestle USA have come to an agreement regarding taxes on Nestle USA property after almost 10 years of disagreement on property tax issues.

According to Freehold Borough Tax Assessor Mitchell Elias, Nestle USA, on Jerseyville Avenue, will receive a refund for overpayment or a credit against future taxes. Elias said Nestle USA had renovations done on the Jerseyville Avenue property in 2000.

He explained that after the renovations were completed, the property was re-examined by Freehold Borough representatives and reassessed. As a result, the assessment of the property was increased. The higher assessment led to an increased property tax bill for the company.

"They were not happy about that back then," Elias said.



Nestle USA has a land assessment of $2.7 million for its three parcels of land. That assessment does not include any buildings or improvements on those properties.

In 2004 the company paid $973,013 in property taxes. It could not be determined what the total assessment was for 2004.

In 2005 when every property in Freehold Boroughwas revalued,NestleUSA's total assessment was placed at $33,381,200 and in 2005 the company's taxes dropped to $605,868. In 2006, Nestle paid $650,599 in taxes and in 2007 the company paid $680,976 in taxes.

Nestle USA has filed a tax appeal every year since 2000, claiming that its overall assessment was too high, according to Elias.

He said the parties have now agreed on $29 million as the total assessment for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 2009 the total assessment will drop to $24 million and remain at that amount until 2012.

As a result of the agreement, Nestle USA withdrew tax appeals it filed in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

"This was all part of the litigation settlement," Elias said.

When asked if the company will receive money back for overpayment of taxes, Elias said Nestle USA may receive money back since taxes were being collected on a $33 million total assessment over the years.

Whether or not Nestle USA pays less taxes depends of the recalculation of those taxes, according to Elias.

"The taxes must be recalculated at $29 million and the company will receive either a refund or a credit against future taxes," he said. "We don't know if that net amount will be lower than taxes paid before the revaluation took place though."

[novillero]

Freehold could lose thousands in tax settlement with Nestle
By Kim Predham • FREEHOLD BUREAU • December 30, 2008


FREEHOLD — The borough and Nestle USA have settled a long-standing tax dispute that could cost the borough tens of thousands of dollars for taxes paid over four years.

If the state Tax Court approves the settlement, Nestle would receive refunds or credits for taxes paid for 2005 to 2008, but would drop its appeals for 2001 through 2004.

"This was a meeting of the minds," said the borough's tax assessor, Mitchell Elias.

The Borough Council has approved the settlement which revises Nestle USA's total assessment on three parcels from approximately $33 million down to $29 million for 2005 through 2008.

The assessment will decrease to $24 million in 2009 to account for the creeping obsolescence of the company's factory, Elias said.

"It's an old, old building," Elias said.

Nestle USA, which owns a manufacturing plant on the east side of town, has been contesting its tax assessment since 2001, when Elias increased the company's assessment to factor in repairs made to the plant, he said.

Elias set the company's property assessment at roughly $27.4 million, he said. That assessment rose to approximately $33.4 million in 2005, a figure set by Realty Appraisal, which had been hired to conduct the town's revaluation, Elias said.

In the course of settling the dispute, the borough and Nestle USA both hired experts to resolve the company's appeals that its property assessments were too high.

The town's expert put the value of the parcels at $38 million for 2001, while Nestle USA put the value at $21 million, Elias said.

Elias's original assessment came in about halfway between those two figures, thanks to the quirks of calculating assessments.

Assessments are set as a percentage of market value, except during the year a revaluation is done. In 2001, a property's assessment would have been set at 91 percent of its market value, Elias said.

Assuming the market value of the Nestle properties was $30 million — a compromise between the figures set by the town's and the company's experts — the assessment should have been about $27 million, Elias said.

Because the number was very close to the value Elias set for the company property in 2001, Nestle agreed to drop its tax appeals for the years 2001 through 2004, Elias said.

The state Tax Court must still approve the settlement, according to the borough's chief financial officer, Nancy Forman.

If the state accepts the settlement, the borough has 45 days to issue a refund or credit for future taxes to Nestle, Forman said.

That refund could be worth thousands of dollars.

For 2008, for example, Nestle's property taxes were set at roughly $710,018. Under the terms of the settlement, the borough would owe Nestle approximately $93,188 for this year, according to Forman.

As of Monday, Forman had not calculated how much the borough might owe Nestle in back taxes for 2005 through 2007, she said.

A representative at Nestle USA could not be reached for comment.

www.app.com/article/20081230/NEWS01/812300338/1285/LOCAL09

[novillero]

one comment was posted on the APP website, from the same article published yesterday:

lucky13 wrote:

Thats right, try to get greedy with the one manufacturing plant probably in a three county area, at least. Interesting how the tax assesor sets a tax rate then has to have a contractor come in to set or assess a tax rate, and people complain about unions.....what redundancy. I digress, and old building, that is also FULL of contamination, with a plume underground that reaches to the condos on the other side of rte 33, wait till that gets left in the towns hands...(search press archives for the pollution) how this place hangs on in this area in this day is amazing, they should get a break. Freehold, the town built on shortsightedness strikes again......

www.app.com/article/20081229/NEWS/81229087/1285/LOCAL09

[novillero]

FYI, the tax assessor has 4 jobs earning over $200,000 a year, not a bad gig:

ELIAS MITCHELL S SPRING LAKE HEIGHTS BOROUGH $18,310

ELIAS MITCHELL S MONROE TOWNSHIP (MIDDLESEX) $104,284

ELIAS MITCHELL S RED BANK BOROUGH $46,053

ELIAS MITCHELL S FREEHOLD BOROUGH $32,376

Total salary, all locations** $201,023

** Salary is estimate and could be higher due to retroactive pay.

[novillero]

Wow, it seems to be a very coveted position, from what is going on in Lakwood. (meaning we can get someone just as qualified and cheaper):

Democrats to hand control to Republicans
Lakewood to see changesBy Zach Patberg • TOMS RIVER BUREAU • December 31, 2008


LAKEWOOD — As municipal employees scramble to sort out a daunting number of applications for professional services — even as some prepare to be replaced when the Township Committee organizes for the year on Thursday — impending changes have created a discernible angst in some departments.

With Republicans taking control of the committee from the Democrats for the first time in 12 years, many of the municipality's attorneys, engineers and auditors will likely be replaced.

Perhaps the most speculation has focused on the tax assessor's office. For that office alone, nine requests for proposals, or RFPs, have been returned for the positions of tax attorney and real estate appraiser. A total of 89 applications were submitted for 17 openings with the township government, including the planning and zoning boards.

Officials have acknowledged that, as a last-ditch effort, Board of Education attorney Michael Inzelbuch was solicited to apply to be the township's special counsel for tax appeals and exemptions, despite not having submitted an RFP nearly three weeks after the proposals were due.

Michael Caccavelli of Teaneck currently holds that position.

"I received two phone calls from Mr. Inzelbuch on Dec. 24 saying that he was approached to take over my office as tax attorney," said Linda Solakian, the tax assessor.

Inzelbuch said he will not pursue the position.

"I have been asked to consider it by people throughout Lakewood who have expressed concerns" about how the office is addressing tax appeals, he said. "I have not submitted an RFP and thus am not interested in the position."

Inzelbuch added that he initially considered applying because of his disapproval of the low number of tax appeals being settled out of court. But local tax officials said that is the result of an overwhelming number of appeals for the current staff, and the situation will only get worse next year.

The effort to recruit Inzelbuch could signal a lack of confidence in the present candidate pool. Yet Solakian, Lakewood's assessor for 12 years, said she preferred four applicants while labeling Inzelbuch's possible dual roles with the township and school board as "questionable" because both collide when it comes to taxes. Newly elected Township Committeeman Steven Langert said he will vote for one of the four who already applied to be tax attorney.

Solakian said she wrote a letter to committee members recommending Salvatore Alfieri of Matawan and Caccavelli for tax attorney; and Robert Gagliano and Jerome J. McHale for appraiser. Gagliano has been the appraiser for the past three years.

"These are the only ones, in my opinion, that are qualified," Solakian said.

Another lawyer candidate is the firm of George R. Gilmore, the Ocean County Republican chairman who helped usher a GOP majority onto the Township Committee and is seeking the post of special counsel for the township.

Republican Committeeman Robert W. Singer, who will likely be selected mayor Thursday, said he favors appointing Lawrence E. Bathgate II, a local lawyer and longtime Republican fundraiser, as township attorney. If named, Bathgate would replace Democratic appointee Steven Secare, who for next year has applied only for Planning Board attorney and the township's labor attorney and special counsel.

Singer, the longest-serving member of the committee, describes a future full of drastic changes aimed at relieving an economically beleaguered taxpayer. He has called for a reduction of up to 15 percent in the number of municipal employees, hiring freezes, cost-slashing at the inspection department, reining in the assessor's office and a marked decrease in the use of professionals overall.

"We don't need an attorney at every meeting," Singer said of the municipal lawyers, many of whom charge about $150 an hour.

He said the first few months were "going to be a rocky road."

Indeed, Solakian said she was told she would have no appraiser for 2009. Langert confirmed that he will recommend the downsizing Thursday.

"We are expecting 5,000 tax appeals next year," Solakian said. "There is no way I can get through them now."


www.app.com/article/20081231/NEWS/812310367/-1/nletter05?source=nletter-news